1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to consumer electronics, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for determining location of a control device in an area and controlling other devices based on the determined location.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many consumer electronic (CE) products, various types of remote controls exist to control the specific CE device. Many CE devices have a one-to-one correspondence of remote control to CE device. Many CE devices, however, have a remote control device that can control more than one CE device. FIG. 1 illustrates this type of control device. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, remote control 1 (RC1) 105, is capable of controlling television 1 (TV1) 125 and videocassette recorder 1 (VCR1) 130. RC2110 is capable of controlling TV2135 and digital versatile disc 1 (DVD1) 140. Also illustrated in FIG. 1, RC3115 only controls stereo 1150, and RC4120 is capable of only controlling TV3145.
In view of the many CE products purchased by users, it becomes apparent that a typical modern household may contain a plurality of RC devices for all the CE products. Therefore, universal RCs were developed to control many CE products and replace the many associated remote controls. FIG. 2 illustrates universal RC (URC) 200. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, URC 200 replaces RC1105, RC2110, RC3115, and RC4120, which are illustrated in FIG. 1. A device such as URC200, however, needs to either be programmed beforehand with control code information for each specific device, or programmed/trained for each CE product that it is to control. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 2A, multiple URCs may each control a group of CE devices. FIG. 2A illustrates three URCs (URC1200, URC2250, and URC3260) that control three groups of CE products.
With either a single URC or group of URCs, the control codes are typically transmitted from the URC via radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) signals. Also, the various CE products are typically maintained in separate rooms. With some transmission means, for example RF, penetration through a wall may be a capability. For IR transmission signals, however, the control codes are mainly limited to transmission within a single room or boundary (i.e., bounded by a wall). Also, RF transmitted signals are typically limited to a specific distance. Therefore, whether a single URC or group of URCs are kept to control a plurality of CE products, the complexity still exists for many users of knowing which remote control controls which group, or which control mechanism (such as buttons on a remote control) control which devices, and in which specific room.